


Erhardt Tuesdays

by Dragonlingdar



Category: Octopath Traveler (Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, M/M, Massage, Mutual Pining
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-07-21
Updated: 2019-07-21
Packaged: 2020-07-08 21:35:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,916
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/19876441
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Dragonlingdar/pseuds/Dragonlingdar
Summary: Olberic dreaded Erhardt's massage appointments as much as Erhardt looked forward to them.





	Erhardt Tuesdays

**Author's Note:**

  * For [evoboo](https://archiveofourown.org/users/evoboo/gifts).



> I desperately hope you like this.
> 
> It is in two perspectives, but the shift is clearly marked, so hopefully it won't be too confusing.
> 
> As I am a fossil, nothing Octopath Traveler belongs to me.

**Erhardt**

Erhardt groaned and squirmed under the sheets. “Gods, Olberic, you’re so good. Just a bit harder ...”

“You know, if you continue to be a pain and make this far more suggestive than it is, I am going to tell the front desk to no longer allow you book massages with me,” Olberic said as he worked on Erhardt’s mid-traps, slowly sinking his elbow into the dense muscle.

“But I give you stories to tell your co-workers,” Erhardt replied as referred pain crept over his shoulder and down his arm.

“Yes, and they all laugh whenever they see your name in my schedule,” Olberic drawled as the muscle adhesion on Erhardt’s back finally began to give way. “The fact that you tip me extremely well and in cash hasn’t gone unnoticed either.”

Erhardt chuckled, then moaned as the jelly finally gave up and the muscle lengthened. “Fuck, Olberic, that felt amazing.”

“ _Erhardt_ ,” Olberic sighed as he removed his elbow and used his palm and pads of his fingers to try and convince the muscle that it wanted to stay loose. Olberic shifted to Erhardt’s other side and began to warm those muscles up as trained fingers searched for knots and tension. 

“What the hell do you do that has you such a mess every time you see me? You come here every other week and I feel like I only barely make a dent in the rocks that are your back muscles every time.”

“I’d come every day if I could,” Erhardt replied, intentionally making his tone as suggestive as possible, which earned him another long-suffering sigh. Erhardt made a low sound of pain as Olberic found another stubborn knot that Erhardt hadn’t managed to even slightly loosen on his own.

“Breathe for me, okay?” Olberic asked. “This one’s fairly big, so it may hurt.”

“That’s what he--ow ,” Erhardt was cut off as referred pain spread across his shoulder and far enough that he could feel it in the tips of his fingers.

“ _Breathe_ , Erhardt.”

Erhardt let out a long, slow exhale as Olberic pressed down, then took a deep breath as he removed the pressure.

“I’m going to do that two more times and then try to see if I can work anything free. Why didn’t I notice this last time?”

“Because I was constantly making oral sex jokes?”

“That could be why,” Olberic agreed, his voice dry. “Ready? Deep breath and release .”

The pressure hurt a little less each time, but still left his shoulder feeling a bit tender.

“At least you make the pain worth it,” Erhardt said as Olberic moved Erhardt’s arm into a few gentle exercises meant to engage his middle-trapezius muscle. 

“I always do.” After a pause, Olberic grumbled, “Gods, Erhardt, you’re making me as bad as you.”

Erhardt snickered. “I imagine you won’t be working on my glutes today?”

“Not when you’re in this kind of mood,” Olberic drawled. “Even though working on those and your lower back does seem to help you a lot…”

“And I do so love when you touch me down there.”

“ _Erhardt_. If my supervisors didn’t know _you_ and me as well as they do, I’d be out of a job.”

“Horror of horrors. Then I’d just have to employ you personally or help you set up a private business so you can charge the worth of your work. Because you do not nearly get paid enough for the caliber work you do.”

“I’m touched by your concern.”

“And I like being touched by you .”

Olberic didn’t bother to dignify that with a response.

“If I ask nicely enough will you knead my ass anyway?”

“Oh my gods,” Olberic grumbled. “No. Definitely not anymore. I’ll work your obliques and erectors, but only down to your iliac crest. Nothing further than that.”

“Oh, but it feels so good when you work my butt.”

“...must you?”

“Absolutely.”

Erhardt felt generous enough to let Olberic work in silence for a few minutes, the generic spa music and their breathing the only sound in the room. It really did feel lovely, having Olberic work on his lower back. So many of the other massage therapists Erhardt had ever booked seemed to ignore or discount the area when some of the largest muscles in the body were there.

 _Keeps potential lawsuits away to not massage there, I guess_ , Erhardt thought idly, the heated table and Olberic’s strong, even pressure soothing.

“Are you sure I--” Erhardt began when Olberic pulled the covers up and over Erhardt’s back and shoulders. 

“Not this time,” Olberic said firmly. “You’ll survive and I think I did a fairly good job otherwise.”

“Shouldn’t you always try to please the customer?”

“Not when the customer is a regular client who treads the line of sexually harassing me every appointment,” Olberic drawled. 

“I really am serious about booking you outside here,” Erhardt said as Olberic arranged the sheets around his leg appropriately. “I want to pay _you_ and not the spa.”

“I know, and that’s really nice of you,” Olberic replied as he applied the lightly scented lotion to Erhadt’s skin.

“Why is there always a but in there that you never answer?” Erhardt asked. 

“I am perfectly within my rights to decline to provide an explanation to you.”

“I know, I know, it’s just...odd, I suppose.”

Olberic hummed without answering.

Erhardt found himself lightly dozing when conversation petered out. Olberic spent the longest amount of time and effort on his back, so Erhardt was awake for it simply out of the spikes of pain that resolved into the good kind of ache. Sure, his calves were tight and his hamstrings could always be encouraged to strengthen, but none of it hurt like his back did. Erhardt was glad that Olberic’s sessions ended up with him prone on the table, because that meant he didn’t have to move after his back was worked on--at least, not until he was told their time together was up. 

“Erhardt?”

Hearing Olberic speak to him so gently always made Erhardt’s skin prickle. Erhardt was five-thousand percent sure that Olberic didn’t realize how he sounded, how his low, deep, almost purr did bad things to Erhardt. 

However, Erhardt was also sure that Olberic wanted nothing to do with him outside of being his client. He had no idea how the man held up under his exceedingly heavy-handed flirting.

Not like that would stop Erhardt from trying.

“I don’t wanna,” Erhardt half-whined into the face-rest. “Do you have anyone after me?”

“Yes, I do,” Olberic said and ran a hand down from Erhardt’s neck to his lower back, gentle but firm pressure over the blanket that made Erhardt want to shiver, and not from a chill. “You have to get up.”

“I feel too good to get up.”

“Erhardt.”

“I know, I know. Busy man who has many clients because he’s exceptional at what he does and really deserves fair compensation but for some reason decides to stick with a company who doesn’t even pay him half of what each massage costs and--”

“I’ll be waiting outside,” Olberic cut in, soft amusement in his voice.

Erhardt heard the door open, then close, and he groaned into the face rest.

 _This is the worst part_ , he grumbled internally as he slowly leveraged himself up to child’s pose, then sitting. His head briefly spun, but once he had collected himself, he grabbed the robe off of the hanger on the wall and pulled his hair back into a ponytail. He stretched, yawned, and opened the door, marking up another tally in the ‘failure’ section of his internal ‘get Olberic to crack’ scoreboard. 

Olberic was leaning against the opposite wall, but pushed away and gave him a smile as he handed over a small cup of water. 

“You doing okay?”

“Absolutely,” Erhardt responded. “Don’t know how you’re not all sweaty and worked up after prying knots out of my back.”

“Practice,” Olberic replied with the smile that reflexively made Erhardt smile back. “I’ll see you in two weeks?”

“Same day, same time, same place.”

 _Unfortunately_.

Olberic looked strangely uncertain for a moment before he moved a few things around in the hip holster that held his lotion before he pulled out something.

“I..may finally be listening to you,” he said in a near whisper and extended a flat, plain-looking card to Erhardt. 

Erhardt took it from Olberic and slid it into one of the robe’s pockets. “I’ll take a look later, okay? When not in...public.”

Olberic nodded, his eyes unusually warm, and walked Erhardt to the door where he’d need to pass through to get to the locker room, per usual. “Take care, Erhardt.”

“You, too,” Erhardt responded before passing into the hallway and away from the massage room section. It was only once he was in the locker room and changing back into his normal clothes that he looked at what Olberic had given him.

A business card.

A broad smile slowly formed on Erhardt’s face and he shoved it into his wallet. It had killed him a little, how Olberic didn’t seem to know his worth. There was a story in the sadness Erhardt occasionally saw in Olberic’s eyes, so the fact that he was branching out, reaching out, filled Erhardt with a bizarre kind of glee.

 _Perhaps I can start drumming up business for him_ , Erhardt wondered as he wandered to the front desk of the spa to pay for his massage. _He deserves it. And perhaps..._

**Olberic**

Tuesday mornings were generally slow at the spa, with only Olberic and one female massage therapist/esthetician, Ophilia, working. While it was rare for anyone to book the 8:15AM appointment, every two weeks Olberic had a very particular client that he both looked forward to and dreaded.

“Your expression tells me it’s an Erhardt Tuesday,” Ophilia said as she gathered sheets from the supply room, where Olberic was clocking in on a slow, ancient computer. 

“It’s an Erhardt Tuesday,” Olberic confirmed. 

“I suppose you’re lucky that I so rarely have early clients. You two manage to keep your conversation very quiet, but the sounds he sometimes makes…”

“Are somehow both frustrating and amusing,” Olberic replied. “I’m sure he’d stop if I managed to ask when not sounding like I’m trying not to laugh.”

“He’s quite a handsome man, too,” Ophilia said. “If I didn’t die from embarrassment, I think I’d be flattered.”

Olberic snorted and picked out four sets of sheets and two towels.

“Oh? Not fully booked today?”

“Erhardt booked a 90 minute,” Olberic said and carefully hip-checked the door open before holding it for Ophilia. “After you.”

“Thank you, Sir Olberic,” Ophilia teased, which made Olberic roll his eyes. 

“Just because I have manners…” Olberic sighed and followed Ophilia back to the section that held all the massage and bodywork rooms. 

Olberic usually had his choice of the rooms, but his build necessitated that he take the largest one available, if only to avoid accidents. The sheets were stored in a cabinet above another, larger one that held the hot towel cabbie. Olberic kept his oils and lotions in the same cabinet as the towel warmer, since the trapped heat kept the lubricants warm. It was also where he plugged his phone in to charge, as it was a concealed area that had one of the few outlets in the room. 

He checked the towel warmer to make sure no one had forgotten to remove towels from within, then turned it on to heat up. It wasn’t quite the summer yet, so people hadn’t started to wear flip flops in the dirty, _filthy_ city and come in with grime on the soles of their feet; thus, Olberic didn’t have to make warm, damp towels quite yet, but he still liked having one or two available, just in case. He moistened and wrung out the two towels he had brought in the small sink in the room, then put them in the cabbie.

His own belongings were stuck in the lowest cabinet, where someone had left a few copies of a trashy magazine, their work uniform shirt, and hip holster. Olberic retrieved his own holster from the lower shelf on the left side of the cabinet and put it on the counter inset into the wall.

They weren’t allowed to have open flame in the rooms due to safety reasons, so Olberic clicked on a few electric tea lights and arranged them on the counter, dropping one in a hollow, frosted glass pillar. There was a small box available for clients to put jewelry and keys in so they didn’t get lost , and a battery-powered digital clock that Olberic hid before each client lay down and just before the session was finished. No need for them to have a sense of the passage of time if they ever opened their eyes during the session. 

Olberic plugged in the heating pad that was underneath a few layers on the massage table and adjusted the heat to high, where it would stay until Erhardt arrived. Olberic would click it to medium then, since Erhardt’s body heat would also keep him warm under the sheet and blanket. 

Olberic paused, then nodded slightly--the music wasn’t offensively loud. He dimmed the lights and let out a long, slow sigh. Another reason why he dreaded Erhardt’s appointments was because he liked the man far more than he should. He kept things almost ruthlessly professional, of course--Erhardt was, after all, a paying customer--but each time Erhardt offered to employ him personally, Olberic found himself wondering if he could somehow convince Erhardt to not employ him, but instead…

Olberic shook his head vigorously. _Neither the time nor place to entertain such notions. If the gods are merciful, he won’t be too much of a dick today_ , Olberic thought as he took off his watch and put it in his bag. _Of course, that probably won’t be the case._

Olberic already knew it was going to be a rough session when, upon picking up Erhardt from the waiting room, the man had his robe open to almost his waist and nearly sliding off his shoulders. It was cinched tightly closed otherwise, but Olberic hated how Erhardt seemed to know he was more attractive than he had any right to be. The small, pleased smile that he treated Olberic to as he stood and walked over didn’t help.

Olberic extended his hand and Erhardt took it, giving it a firm shake, Erhardt’s other hand covering his own after they clasped hands. “Hello, Olberic. It’s been a while.”

“You say that like we don’t see each other every other week,” Olberic replied and gestured that Erhardt precede him once he let go of Olberic’s hand. Erhardt knew where “Olberic’s room” was. 

“Anything in particular you want me to work on today?” Olberic asked as he followed Erhardt into the room.

“Just the usual,” Erhardt said, and rolled his shoulders. “Back, neck, shoulders. Glutes, too, if you have the time and my back doesn’t give you too much trouble.”

“Any new condition I should be aware of?”

The sly smile Erhardt gave him did awful things to Olberic’s stomach every time. “Nothing yet .”

“Right,” Olberic drawled, hoping that his dead-pan annoyance covered up that his discomfort at Erhardt’s pseudo-flirting was because he liked it. 

_Client, Olberic_ , Olberic reminded himself. _And he only does this because he finds it funny, not because he actually wants anything._

Olberic turned down the covers on the massage table and said, “Starting face-up. I’ll be waiting outside.”

Olberic left the room and, upon sliding the door close, took a long, deep breath and let it out slowly. 

Olberic never looked up his clients online outside of work. He felt it wasn’t professional, and, really, he didn’t usually care. They were, at least for the moment, the source of his income, and nothing really had made him think he’d want to keep in touch with them should he move on to something or someplace different.

Unfortunately, Erhardt seemed intent on breaking that resolution, considering that he and Olberic had been matched on more than one dating platform. The man had never brought it up, so Olberic desperately hoped that it was a one-way match, but he strongly doubted that.

_Not that I’d want it to be that way, anyway. Right?_

“I’m ready for you,” Erhardt called out and Olberic sighed heavily at the coy tone before entering the room.

“Really, Erhardt? Starting already?” Olberic drawled as he slid the door shut.

Erhardt gave him a cheeky grin. 

“I should use the lavender aromatherapy on you,” Olberic said as he opened the part of the cabinet that held the hot towel machine and the oils/lotion.

Erhardt snorted. “You never would be so cruel.”

Erhardt hated lavender.

Olberic didn’t think Erhardt's preference was too in the wrong, so he picked out the woodsy-citrus scented lotion that both he and Erhardt liked best out of the three available blends. 

It was easy to fall into the rhythm of the work as long as Erhardt kept his mouth shut. Unfortunately, until Olberic had him face-down, Erhardt was usually more than happy to make running suggestive commentary.

So it was strange that he remained more-or-less quiet as Olberic carefully worked on his upper traps, levator scapulae, and scalenes. It let Olberic focus more while simultaneously worrying him. Erhardt was still vocally responsive--tiny moans, murmured requests and commands, happy sighs--but the utter lack of innuendo was odd. 

Admittedly, Erhardt’s neck and shoulders were worse than usual, and flickers of pain and relief frequently flashed across his face as Olberic dislodged as many adhesions as he could through tissue manipulation and gentle stretches. 

“Gods, I love you,” Erhardt sighed once Olberic stood from the stool he had been sitting on to more easily--and with less strain on _his_ body--work on Erhardt’s neck and shoulders. 

“You and about seven other clients,” Olberic replied. “...are you feeling okay?”

“Hm?”

“Not that I mind terribly,” Olberic said as he pulled back the blanket and gently removed Erhardt’s right arm from beneath the sheet before tucking the sheet against Erhardt’s torso and setting his arm back down. “But I’m used to you being, well…”

“More of a dick?”

“You said it, not me.”

Erhardt opened his eyes and smirked faintly at Olberic. “Would you believe me if I told you I was trying out being a ‘good person’?”

“Not entirely,” Olberic said as he applied the lotion. 

Erhardt snickered. “I can go back to trying to make you blush hard enough that I can see it in the gloom if you want.”

“No, thank you,” Olberic drawled.

“Let’s see…” Erhardt trailed off as Olberic worked on Erhardt’s arm.

“I love the way your fingers part my flesh,” Erhardt purred after a few minutes of silent consideration and Olberic almost stopped, considering he was using his thumbs to do just that in an attempt to relax Erhardt’s forearm.

 _Damnit_ , Olberic sighed. “I shouldn’t have said anything.”

“I’m quite glad you did.”

As Olberic was massaging one of Erhardt’s hands, the man quipped, “You always perform such good hand jobs.”

“Erhardt,” Olberic sighed, barely keeping his tone from being a groan of dismay. “Must you?”

“Oh, I most definitely must,” Erhardt said. “Now that I know that you don’t like it when I’m quiet.”

Part of Olberic desperately wanted to flirt back, regardless of how awful he was at it, if just to maybe get Erhardt to leave him alone. Him actually responding would probably provide enough of a shock to make Erhardt shut up.

Olberic untucked the sheet enough to slip Erhardt’s arm back under and covered it with the blanket. He kept one hand on Erhardt’s shoulder as he walked around the top of the table to Erhardt’s left. 

He arranged Erhardt’s left arm the way he had his right, and was strongly tempted to just stop the session when, as Olberic was applying the lotion to Erhardt’s skin, Erhardt said, “I really enjoy your long, firm strokes.”

“I bet you do,” Olberic drawled in reply, mildly irritated. 

Erhardt laughed quietly. 

Once Olberic had finished Erhardt’s left arm and placed it under the sheet again, Erhardt said, “I’ve been giving out your professional contact information, you know,” Erhardt said, surprising Olberic.

“You have?” he asked as he carefully-- _pointedly_ \--correctly tucked the sheets around Erhardt’s left thigh so he could work on his leg. “I...thank you.”

“You didn’t think I would after you gave me your card?”

“Well, I wasn’t sure,” Olberic answered truthfully.

"While I do want you all to myself..." Erhardt purred, letting the sentence hang for a minute before he continued, "...you do need clients other than myself."

"Well, thank you. There was no reason for you to do so."

"Yes, there is," Erhardt said before sucking in a sharp breath. "Shit, _ow_ , what the hell did you find ?" 

"Your IT band is far too tight," Olberic murmured. "Can I stretch it a bit?"

"That's what he said."

“Erhardt.”

"But, yes, you may," Erhardt said.

Olberic was surprised by how quiet Erhardt's groans of pain and happiness were as he worked to stretch Erhardt's leg muscles, but was _not_ surprised to find that his other leg was just as badly off. 

"Been on your feet a lot lately?" Olberic asked absently.

"Yeah," Erhardt replied, sounding a little tired. "But don't spend a lot of time on my feet, I want to spend more time on my stomach around you."

Olberic declined to respond. 

He spent the bare minimum on Erhardt's feet before he covered them and put a small amount of antibacterial gel on his hands. He pulled the booster out from under Erhardt's knees, then walked up to Erhardt's head, pulled up and secured the face rest, and said, "Think you can roll over for me?"

"Always."

 _I need to watch how I phrase things_ , he thought as he tented the sheets enough for Erhardt roll over onto his stomach beneath them without exposing anything. Once settled, Olberic smoothed the sheets on Erhardt's back, then shifted and slid the bolster under Erhardt's ankles. 

"Remember, I like it hard and deep," Erhardt said, his voice slightly muffled. 

Olberic was pretty sure that he sighed more often around Erhardt than any other time.

He pulled the blanket and sheet down and secured it around Erhardt's hips, then ran his fingers up Erhardt's spine.

It was the one, tiny moment that he allowed himself to appreciate Erhardt's body during their sessions before he shifted back to work mode. 

Long, sweeping strokes deposited the lotion he needed and Olberic frowned.

_What has been stressing him out enough that it is easy to see his tension?_

"I'm glad you booked me for 90 minutes," Olberic murmured.

Erhardt snorted. "I figured you'd say that."

Upper trapezius to middle to lower, all up and down his erector spinae, there was tension. 

"This is going to hurt."

"I know."

"Please breathe and tell me if I'm going too hard...I mean, if I am using too much pressure."

Erhardt laughed softly as Olberic cursed inwardly. 

It was a long, slow process, picking out which adhesions would give and which would have the most effect.

"Fuck, how does something halfway down my back make my shoulder hurt?" Erhardt said, his voice tight.

"Everything is connected," Olberic murmured absently. 

"Seems so."

"I won’t have time for the back of your legs."

"As long as you give my ass some attention, I don’t care."

Olberic shook his head and sighed _again_.

Olberic was absolutely certain that it sounded like he and Erhardt were having sex, although Erhardt was being kind enough to keep relatively quiet. Olberic knew that if he wasn’t so focused on his work that the sounds Erhardt was making would have him distinctly...uncomfortable. As it was, some of Erhardt’s moans and groaned, “Yes, right there,” broke through his stubborn professionalism and made him shiver. Still, he was more concerned for Erhardt’s health, which had him being extremely thorough and ignoring the sounds of pained pleasure that he was drawing out of Erhardt. 

_I hope I haven’t accidentally left bruises_ , Olberic worried. _There were some stubborn knots._

After he had soothed the muscles as much as he knew how, he knelt so that he was closer to Erhardt’s head and asked, “Are you okay?” 

“Can I take you home?” Erhardt asked, his voice a little hazy, and not from the face-rest.

“I’ll take that as a yes,” Olberic drawled before standing. 

He only ever worked on glutes over the sheets because, well, he was a man and whenever a female client asked, he had to be five thousand different kinds of careful, and always made sure to note that she had expressly requested for those muscles to be worked. Olberic didn’t think there was much of a difference, anyway, so over the sheets it was for both male and female clients.

He did pull the blanket back, but kept the sheet where it was. 

Olberic was relieved at the small happy sounds he could hear from Erhardt as he worked to relax the musculature, since Olberic was pretty sure he wouldn’t have been able to handle anything besides that. 

He had enough time to do a few compressions on Erhardt’s legs and arms, but had run out of time otherwise.

“Erhardt?” Olberic asked, resting a hand against Erhardt’s mid-back once he was done. “Really, are you okay?”

“I’m sorry if I sounded bad,” Erhardt murmured. “You’re just _so good_ and I really, really needed this.”

“Well, as long as I don’t lose my job, I don’t entirely care,” Olberic lied. He’d be having _dreams_ , he knew it. 

“I swear I’ll be better behaved the next time I see you,” Erhardt responded. 

“I’ll believe it when I see it,” Olberic responded and stood. “Really, take your time getting up. I’ll be waiting outside.”

The look on Ophilia’s face when he stopped by the waiting room to get some water was simultaneously hilarious and worrisome.

“Would you believe me if I told you nothing happened?” Olberic asked.

He didn’t wait to see her reaction, heading back to wait for Erhardt to eventually make his way out. 

And immediately regretted it.

Because he really did look he had just had some amazing sex.

 _Please let it be too dark here for him to see my face,_ Olberic begged whatever god may be listening. 

“How are you feeling?” Olberic asked, and hated that he spoke in the low, resonant whisper that had always made former lovers shiver.

Erhardt didn’t seem to miss that, since his hands lingered just a little too long when he took the water cup from Olberic.

 _No, no, no , he is a customer,_ Olberic scolded himself. _You are not losing a client or a job to your libido!_

“Make sure you drink plenty of water,” Olberic eventually said once he cycled through everything that he _couldn’t_ say without being suggestive. “The adhesions I worked on probably released a lot of chemicals and you’ll want to stay hydrated.”

Erhardt nodded slowly before giving him a bright smile. “I really do appreciate all your hard work. After the kind of week I had, someone willing to attend to the mess that my body was with your kind of thoroughness is remarkable and I can’t thank you enough.”

“You’re welcome,” Olberic said, relief slowly washing through him. “After you,” he continued and gestured that Erhardt go before him. 

Erhardt nodded and walked away, Olberic staying two steps behind him. Before Olberic could say his goodbye, Erhardt turned back to him and said, with firm determination, “I’m definitely getting you out of here. The kind of work you did? These people--this spa--doesn’t deserve your talent and skill. I’ve already found you three potential clients, so please don’t hesitate to respond to their queries. You have your own table?”

“Y-yes, I do,” Olberic replied, surprised by not only Erhardt’s tone, but the simmering desire in his eyes.

“Good,” Erhardt said. “I’ll see you in two weeks. Assuming I didn’t get you fired, but I swear to the gods that I’ll try to explain what actually happened if someone brings it up.”

“Thank you.”

“Don’t mention it,” Erhardt said, and the smile that he gave Olberic made Olberic struggle to shove down a shiver. 

Olberic pushed open the door for Erhardt and gave him a pleasant, hopefully neutral smile in return. “Take care.”

“You, too.”

Olberic let the door close before letting out a gusty sigh.

As he was cleaning up his room, Ophilia poked her head in and said, “I know you’d never do anything like that with a client, but it was incredibly clear that he, ah, enjoyed himself.”

“I am aware,” Olberic drawled. 

“I can take him--er, as a client--in two weeks, if you want me to. Just to give you a break from him. He seems...overwhelming.”

“A little bit,” Olberic replied and balled the sheets up in his arms. “But nothing I can’t handle. I’d rather not inflict him on someone else.”

Ophilia nodded. “Well, just so you know, I vouched for you, although I’m not sure if that will have any weight.”

“What will be will be,” Olberic sighed. “There are other places I can work.”

“Of course,” she said and stepped away, leaving Olberic to his clean-up.


End file.
